This Video Is 2D And 3D Simultaneously: the Pulfrich Effect

Hold on tight, because with a stabilised camera shot and a pair of sunglasses, you’re about to see a video that works in both 2D and 3D at the same time. The technique’s called the Pulfrich Effect, and this is how it works.

The BBC’s terrible 90s Doctor Who special, Dimensions in Time, can be seen here, complete with its Noel Edmonds-filled framing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQCeMIQpFBc

Camera and sound: Matt Gray / https://mattg.co.uk

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73 Responses

This was originally just going to be a test shoot, but then Matt and I played the first take back and both shouted “whoa” when it worked right away on just a phone screen in daylight. If it worked or didn’t work for you, let me know the details – what are you watching on? What’s the lighting like near you?

It certainly appeared to work for me. I wear prescription glasses for short-sightedness, but fortunately also have prescription sun glasses and managed to hold the correct lens from each pair to the correct eye to show the effect. It’s subtle, but definitely looked different to watching just through the non-sunglasses.

You definitely “popped out” when you started moving with the rotating camera again at 02:35 or so.

“Accidentally” kept my 3D glasses from a 3D Imax screening of Star Wars and viewed it on a 17″ laptop. Can confirm it works very well! A brighter environment helps to work more quickly but doesn’t seem to be strictly necessary.

No it’s because the background is constantly moving so the compression algorithm on this video makes it very blocky. Watch a video of confetti on youtube and you’ll see how terrible the compression gets even though it’s 1080p.

What are you on about? It’s been sunny all day, and I live in the UK. This whole “Britain never sees the sun” joke is old and nonsensical. Come back when you’ve got some genuinely funny material. Until then, turn caps-lock off, stop trying to be a comedian and go back to bed.

Trippiest video ever? But seriously, this was so bizarre to view since I view everything with only one eye. For me, you appeared slightly 3D fuzzy at times and then normal and that effect would come and go and the whole thing kind of reminds me of the weirdness of an Aphex Twin video or something like that (I should note that 3D usually never works for me in general). Was there camera movement at 2:18 or is it just the brain attempting to catch up with the motion? That’s the point where the camera person appears to have stopped moving but I swear the video still seems to move (this is the most non-sensical comment I may have ever posted…ever 🙂 )

The camera was still moving a bit but you were probably seeing some Motion Aftereffect. It happens in cars when you’ve been driving a long while and come to a stop, the road appears to rush away from you.

I’m confused… You view everything with one eye and 3D doesn’t normally work for you, yet you were able to experience it slightly here. Are you closing an eye or is it something you can’t help? Old SNES games with the differently scrolling backgrounds were great with this type of 3D back in the day if you want to check it out with an emulator. I’m thinking most 3d games with a free camera may produce the effect as well. When I had the glasses for this efffect when I was a kid I watched everything with them. Anyway, you just weren’t clear about why you watch most videos with one eye. I catch myself doing that when I get sleepy, I’ll often close one eye without realizing it and continue doing what I was doing until it’s pointed out to me.

if people still have trouble getting it to work here’s a few things
-Put the quality to the highest there is in this case 1080p 50fps
-make sure where ever you are watching this its nice and bright
-Have the sunglasses cover your right eye since the video is moving from right to left. dont cover both eyes

It works for me by forming a small hole with the index finger of my right hand very close in front of my right eye. The lighting conditions are not the best here, but it still works. I put the screen (tablet) around a meter away so i can still see most of it through the hole. And it darkens the image for the right eye enough to get the 3d effect without any glasses.
Fun fact: If you have to wear glasses, the same method with the finger can be used to see a sharper image without the glasses.

There was a music video by Seal which also used this effect. The VHS came with glasses which had the right eye darkened.
I can’t remember which song though, sorry.
There was also an episode of “Third Rock form the Sun” which did this too.